At a time when West Bengal is making headlines repeatedly for all wrong reasons like Bogtui massacre, successive incidents of rape and West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment irregularities scam, the state government is launching a statewide fortnightly propaganda to showcase the successes of the different development schemes of the government.

The propaganda programme christened “Showcasing of Success” will start from May 6, a day after Trinamool Congress celebrates the first anniversary of Mamata Banerjee’s third term as the chief minister and will be continuing till May 20.

When contacted, the West Bengal Agriculture Minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay told IANS that the programme will be held statewide through seminal, fairs and exhibitions. “We will showcase the successes of the different development schemes like Lokkhir Bhandar, Kanyashree and Swastha Sathi schemes, among others. The event will also highlight the successes of the state government during the last 11 years in the sphere of infrastructure development and setting up of new schools and colleges,” Chattopadhyay said.

As per a state government official, who did not wish to be named, the estimated payout from the state exchequer for organising the event will be above Rs 80 crore. “The project will involve 52 state government departments. There will be power-point presentation. At the same time leaflets will be distributed. A professional event management company has been assigned to organise the entire event,” the official said.

It is learnt that the event is being organised on the instruction of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who wants people in all corners of the state to know about the development schemes being run by the state government.

Opposition leaders have described this initiative as an attempt to divert attention from burning issues like Bogtui massacre, repeated events of rapes in the state and WBSSC scam.

BJP’s national vice-president and party Lok Sabha member Dilip Ghosh told IANS that this will be yet another wastage of public money to image recovery of the state government and ruling party which has already been marred because of reasons known to all. “However, the ruling party might be successful in hoodwinking people through such gimmicks for some time, but they will not be able to fool the people of the state all the time,” Ghosh said.